Paper short abstract:

The paper will examine and compare the national response of the Czech Republic and of Slovakia to the war in the Ukraine in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of that country, using five levels of response: diplomatic, economic, political, societal/cultural and humanitarian.

Paper long abstract:

The paper will examine and compare the national response of the Czech Republic and of Slovakia to the war in the Ukraine in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of that country. The multidisciplinary analysis will encompass five levels of response: diplomatic, economic, political, societal/cultural and humanitarian. The first area will explore the cooperation of both countries with NATO and the implementation of the EU sanctions against Russia. It will also involve the analysis of the train journey to Kiev of the Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala, along with his Central European colleagues. The economic impact of the sanctions will be explored, including the impact upon the inflationary pressure and assessing two countries’ dependence on Russia’s natural gas. The impact upon the political system will also be assessed, including the response of the political parties across the entire political spectrum, the degree of national unity among the elites as well at the community level. The reversal of the political orientation by the Czech President Milos Zeman will be considered. At the societal/cultural level, the paper will explore the degree to which the last remnants of solidarity with Russia, whether through the few surviving Slavophile sentiments or loyalty based on past ideological solidarity of Marxist-Leninist states. The author will argue that, for the populations of both Czech and Slovak nations, Putin’s invasion of the Ukraine revived the bitter memories and strengthened the anti-Russian sentiments associated with the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia half a century earlier. The episodes of anti-Russian violence and cultural rejection will be assessed. Finally, the response on the humanitarian level will deal with the accommodation of the hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian refugees seeking an asylum in the two countries. Throughout the paper, the response of the Czech Republic and of Slovakia will be compared, bearing in mind that Slovakia actually shares the border with Ukraine and is therefore closer to the conflict and its dangers.